Fabric-supporting means for circular looms



es. 1?, 1935. J. JABOULEY 2,024,166

FABRIC SUPPORTING MEANS FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS 16 35 Z6 25 I i ATTORNEY;

Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FABRIC-SUPPORTING MEANS FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Joanny Jabouley, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application January 12, 1934, Serial No. 706,323 In Great Britain January 24, 1933 4 Claims. (01. 139-13) This invention relates to circularlooms, its tles 1, these being positioned between the warp principal object being to ensure even disposition sheets by the means described in U. S. applicaof the warp threads within the fabric. tion S. No. 706,322 filed on even date here- In circular weaving a relative motion between with. The positioning means comprise rotatable 5 the weft inserting means and the warps results vane wheels 8 located outside the warp circle and I in a tendency for the warps to be dragged round passing through the outer sheet of warps to eninto an inclined position, with the result that gage rollers 9 mounted for free rotation in the they tend to assume a similar position in the shuttle body, and aroller it! freely mounted in the fabric. Further, this tendency for dragging exshuttle body to run against the face of a ring ll 10 tends into the fabric itself, until a balance is carried by the shaft 6.

reached between the turning force applied to the The shuttle 1 extends downwardly as far as warps and the resistance of the warps to turnthe top of a fabric-supporting ring l2 carried ing. A major result of this turning of the warp by the shaft 6, weft delivered from the spool 13 is that it causes the warps to assume an uneven in the shuttle being pressed by the shuttle into 15 spacing, or prevents the warps regaining their the fell of the fabric M at the upper edge of the 15 even spacing if this has been upset by any other ring l2. The ring I2 is covered with a layer of cause. Moreover, it is not convenient to employ fabric l5 so that the fabric being woven is firmly a reed. in a circular loom to space the warps evengripped as it proceeds downwards over the face ly at each pick, as in ordinary looms, so that the of the ring I2. above-mentioned tendency results inuneven fab- Assuming the diameter of the ring I2 to be 1 20 m metre, the depth of the ring shown in thedraw- According to the present invention dragging ing is 150 mm. The depth, however, may be round of the fabric is prevented by carrying the greater than h for example 200 250 m fabric over a cylindrical supporting ring which With looms of other diameters, appropriate extends to the fell of the fabric, the outer surdepths are given to the ring 12. 25 face of said ring being covered with fabric, felt, Under the tension imparted to the weft at the or the like, so that there is a firm gripping befell of the fabric and the pressure exerted by the tween the fabric being woven and the surface of shuttles in forcing the weft between the warps, this ring on the contraction of the fabric under the fabric tends to contract somewhat, and thus the weaving tension on to the rough surface of r p t e fabric ov l5 fi y- In this y, 30 the ring. a strong resistance is set up against the tendency In order to maintain sufficient grip the ring of the warps to displacement due to the relative should be of considerable length; further, in order movement between the shuttles and warp The to ensure that this gripping is maintained even warps are therefore enabled tomaintain their where the fabric is of a somewhat extensible sp 3 character, whether by reason of low pick density In order to ensure that the gripping of the and/or warp spacing, or by the character of the fabric by the ring 12 is maintained even where yarns employed, a member may be employed to the fabric is of a somewhat extensible character embrace the fabric immediately after it has whether by reason of low pick density and/or passed the ring so as to contract it, and by exertwarp spacing or by the character of the yarns ing tension at this point to draw the fabric firmemployed, a ring I6 is arranged to surround the 1y against the ring. fabric just below the ring 12 so as to contract the The invention will now be described in greater fabric and by exerting tension at this point to detail with reference to the accompanying drawdraw the fabric firmly against the ring 12. Pref- 4 5 ing, in which erably the ring it is provided with means such as Fig. l is a partial view of a loom in vertical the nut and bolt arrangement I'l shown in Fig. 2

section; v to enable it to be drawn or pressed into engage- Fig. 2 is a plan view of a detail shown in Fig. 1; ment with the fabric with a force in accordance d with the nature of the fabric. For ease of as- Fig. 3 shows in side elevation the rollers of the sembly the ring 16 may be made in two or more 50 take-up mechanism. sections, the nut and bolt arrangement l1 serving Fig. 1 shows warp threads 3 proceeding downto connect the sections together as well as to wardly from warp beams (not shown) through a adjust the pressure required to be exerted by the reed 4 carried by a ring 5 mounted on a central ring to contract the fabric.

vertical shaft 6. Below the reed 4 are the shut- Where the warps 3 rotate, the ring 12 is driven 55 J'2|.- A similar arm 2| (not by the shaft 6 to rotate at the same rate. The ring 6 is likewise mounted on a member l8 rotating with the warps, the ring being supported by any suitable number of link connections I9. Where the warps are stationary, the rings l2 and I6 are also held stationary.

Used in conjunction with warps to vibrate at the the fabric, as described in U. S. application S. No. 655,559 filed 7th February, 1933, the invention enables very even spacing of the warps to be obtained notwithstanding the absence of reedlike spacing means operating at beat-up as is found necessary in ordinary weaving practice.

Below the ring Hi the tubular fabric l4 spreads outwardly to reach the sand-roll 20 of a take-up device in doubled form. A spreading arm 2| inside the tube of fabric engages the fold of the fabric just in advance of the roller 23 to enable the fabric to be collected without creases or folds across its width. The arm 2| is pivotally mounted at 22 upon a bracket 23 carried by the shaft 6, a screw 24 threaded through an extension 25 of the bracket 23 engaging the upper end 26 of the arm 2| to enable the lower end of the arm to be pressed outwardly against the fold of the fabric at any desired pressure. The screw 24, being near the fell of the fabric, can be easily reached through the warps 3 for adjustment of the arm shown) is mounted on the bracket 23 on the other side of the shaft 6 to engage the similar fold at the other side of the, tubular fabric.

From the roller 20, the doubled fabric l4 passes means to cause the I .over and under thegripping rollers 21, 28, the

roller 28 running in a slot 29 so as to press by its weight against the roller 21. Tension is maintained on the fabric by the rollers 29, 21, 28 even if the take-up roller 30 is run back or even removed for unwinding of fabric, and consequently fabric on the ring |2 (which on the tension imparted by remains unaffected during the pressure of the depends, of course, the take-up device) removal offabric.

Rollers 3| are mounted outside the ring l2 to guide the ring by pressure through the fabric.

The rollers 3| are carried by a cranked bracket,

32 mounted on a ring 33 which supports the point where they enter brackets 34 for the shafts 35 on which the vanewheels 8 are secured. Free rolling movement between the ring I2 and the rollers 3| is thus secured. Preferably a second roller 36 is associated with each roller 3|, the roller 35 rolling against the inner face of the ring |8 to ensure the accurate centering of the ring l2.

The brackets 32 and the rollers 3| are depressed below the upper edge of the ring l2, thus making the fell of the fabric accessible and facilitating the tying-in of broken warp ends.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. In a circular loom, a cylindrical fabricsupporting ring extending downwardly from the fell of the fabric being woven, said ring being covered with material adapted to grip the fabric, a member adapted to embrace the fabric below the supporting ring, and means to contract said member about the fabric to draw the fabric firmly against the ring.

2. In a circular loom, a deep cylindrical fabricsupporting ring extending to the fell of the fabric being woven, a cover for said ring having a rough surface adapted by gripping the fabric to resist slipping of the fabric circumferentially of the ring, and a member disposed near said ring and adapted to embrace the fabric on the side of the ring remote from the fell of the fabric so as to assist the gripping of the fabric by said cover.

3. In a circular loom, a cylindrical fabricsupporting ring extending to the fell of the fabric being woven, a fabric covering over the outer surface of said ring, said fabric covering being adapted to grip the fabric and to resist any tendency to relative circumferential motion between said ring and said fabric during the weaving operation.

4. In a circular loom, a cylindrical fabricsupporting ring extending to the fell of the fabric 40 being woven, a cover for said ring formed from a material having a high coeflicient of friction and adapted by gripping the fabric to resist any tendency to relative circumferential motion between said ring and said fabric during the weaving 5 operation.

J OANNY JABOULEY. 

